RS polls in J-K tomorrow, Azad faces tough test

Elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be held tomorrow with seven candidates in the fray including Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, current Leader of Opposition in the Upper House of Parliament, who faces a tough test.
Besides Azad, the other contestants are PDP's Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Nazir Ahmad Laway; BJP's Shamsher Singh and Chander Mohan Sharma; and Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo and Nasir Aslam Wani of NC.
Both BJP-PDP and NC-Congress are fighting the elections under seat sharing arrangements.
PDP, with 28 seats, is the single-largest party in the state Assembly, which is currently in suspended animation, while BJP has 25 seats in the 87-member house.

Given the party position in the Assembly, the BJP-PDP combine is likely to win three seats and Azad, who has support of 28 members including 12 of Congress, 15 of NC and CPI-M member M Y Tarigami, can win another term if two more members support him. Seven seats are shared by smaller parties and Independents.
Azad is believed to have met Independent members -- former minister Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen and Engineer Rashid Ahmed in Srinagar on Tuesday but the duo had not opened their cards.

"The elections to elect four members to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) by the members of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will be held on February 7 at J&K Legislative Assembly Secretariat lobby in Jammu from 9 am to 4 pm," according to the notification issued by Returning Officer M Ramzan.

Azad had lost the Lok Sabha elections against Union minister Jitendra Singh from Udhampiur Lok Sabha seat.
"The importance of Yaseen and Rashid has increased for the victory of joint candidates of BJP-PDP and Congress-NC," a senior Congress leader said and claimed Azad will win.
Terming the alliance between BJP and PDP as "opportunist", CPI(M) said it has decided to vote against the parties.